The Myth of Grass Fed Beef
Have you recently purchased an item just because it had “grass fed” printed on the label? Because of the advent of slick advertising and the abundance of food-related buzzwords, it can be difficult to navigate all the food options available to us and to make the best choices.
So-called “grass-fed beef” is one such example of clever marketing surpassing food quality. Though the USDA recently (in January 2016) dropped the grass-fed label standard, its use even until that point was hit-or-miss, at best. A label that reads “grass-fed” doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story.
While all cattle need their mother’s milk and grass for their first 6-12 months of life, most are then shipped off to feedlots and fattened on grain for the rest of their days. Some beef producers were even allowed to market this beef as “grass-fed,” simply because the cows ate grass during the first few months of life – despite the fact the cattle were finished with grain.
In other cases, cattle are confined to a pen and injected with hormones and antibiotics to help spur on growth and keep away all the infections that come with confinement. Still, this meat could be marketed as “grass-fed” because the confined cattle are fed dried hay or other cut, stored forage.
REAL Grass Fed Beef
To produce the best quality meat, however, it’s vitally important that cattle have unrestricted access to rich, nutrient-dense pastures. That’s why our herd of heritage breed cattle are rotated throughout the different lush pastures on our 100-acre farm. This makes all the difference as our cows are afforded the ability to graze and eat the way nature intended – pulling nutrients and minerals directly from the fresh grass and soil.
While hormones, antibiotics, grains, and other manner of cattle feed will certainly keep a cow alive and bulk it up enough to take to market, cattle raised this way are just unhealthy; missing vital nutrients in their growth processes.
Compared with stored forage, grass finished, or feedlot meat, our 100% grass fed beef isn’t bulked up in excess of 600 pounds but are younger, and significantly higher in “good” fats, lower in “bad” fats, and contain higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants. In addition to our cattle being able to eat the freshest possible food, they are also able to grow at nature’s pace – without any artificial supplements to speed up the process.
Raising cattle on pasture not only benefits the animals themselves, but also the farm and the environment. From all your favorite roasts and ground beef to the more flavorful shank and rib cuts, we encourage you to taste the difference in our 100% grass-fed, pastured beef!
